Fish Out of Water
by alBBie
Summary: Formerly A Fantastic Disaster Hogwarts is a normal American boarding school for normal teenagers. Probably been done before, but I'm at boarding school so I felt compelled to write this... R
1. Bonding Activities

**A/N: **I know I'm writing a billion stories right now, but I'm currently starting at boarding school, so I felt somewhat compelled to write this story. It's probably been done before, but whatever.

**Disclaimer: **I own nothing.

**0000**

Harry Potter didn't know why he wanted to go to boarding school. He stood in front of his formidable freshmen dorm feeling like a speck of dust next to the towering brick building.

"Hurry up, Harry, and bring your stuff in!"

Oh, right, that's why.

He sighed and proceeded to drag his large suitcase toward the dorm. At least at this school none of the students would know who he was. Most grownups, upon seeing his name, then ask him if he is _the_ Harry Potter. As in _the_ Harry Potter that survived the bomb in Lily and James Potter's house when he was only a one-year-old boy. Harry was sick of those questions.

He eventually got his giant bag up the stairs to his second floor room without any help at all. It wasn't as though he expected his aunt and uncle to help him out, even though they did want to leave as soon as possible. This was why Harry wanted to leave. Although at the moment, he was worried that maybe coming to this place was worse than living with the meanest aunt and uncle imaginable.

There was a sign on his door. "Harry" it read. He looked at the door next to his. "Ronald". Across from him were "Dean" and "Seamus", and "Neville" was at the end of the hall. Harry rubbed his eyes and yawned before unlocking the door with a key he had just received a few minutes earlier at his mailbox and shoving the bag into his room.

The room was simple, only containing a desk, chair, bed, and bureau. Harry started to unpack. A few minutes later, he could hear loud voices in the hall. The second person to arrive had now done so.

"Oh, Arthur, would you just be quiet and help your son?"

"Molly, I am trying to but you are somewhat in my way."

There was a grunt and the sound of something large and heavy being dropped on the floor.

"Ron, would you come around over here, please?" the second voice asked in a voice that suggested that they were trying very hard to remain calm.

"I can't," said a third voice.

"Why not?"

"You put the bag on my foot."

"Oh, for goodness sake," the first voice said irritably.

There was another grunt and the sound of a dragging duffel bag and someone tripping.

Harry was extremely curious as to what was going on outside, but he continued unpacking without poking his head out the door. Several minutes later, a head did appear in his doorway, though.

"Hello," it said. It was attached to a round woman's body. She entered the room and held out her hand. "Molly Weasley. My son Ron is moving in next door."

"Harry," Harry responded quietly.

Molly Weasley half disappeared out the door to call to her son. He entered the room. He was a tall, redheaded boy covered in freckles with a rather large nose.

"Ron, this is Harry. He'll be living next door to you." Mrs. Weasley had an oddly sweet sounding voice.

Harry and Ron shook hands.

Harry couldn't help but think this whole situation was just a bit strange.

**0000**

_Time for bonding activities_, Hermione Granger thought unhappily to herself. _Oh, joy._ She wanted to puke. She would rather be puking than doing bonding activities. She was sitting in the grass in a big field surrounded by streets and buildings on a day that was way too hot. She was sitting in the circle with five other freshmen and two seniors, one of which was her "senior buddy". All eight of them were in the same "cluster", or grouping of dorms. Hermione's cluster was called Gryffindor. The name alone freaked her out.

How fun.

"Okay, so what we're going to do is all go around in a circle saying our name, where we're from, and something we do," her "senior buddy" said. She was tall with dark hair and a permanent smile spread across her chipper face. "So, I'll start and I'll say that my name is Katie Bell, I'm from Cleveland, Ohio and I play soccer." She finished with a giggle and turned her head to the person sitting next to her, a pretty girl with big eyes and light brown hair.

"I'm, um, I'm Lavender Brown, and I'm from South Carolina," she began in her slight southern accent. "And… Um… I dance!"

Next up was a girl with deep skin and pulled back, jet black hair. "My name is Parvati Patil, I'm from San Francisco, California, and I take French," she said easily.

Next was Hermione's turn. "I'm Hermione Granger," she started quietly, "and I'm from Boulder, Colorado, and I… take Spanish…" That was the only think she was continuing on from what she had done at home. At home, she hadn't played any sports, she didn't do any extracurriculars; there was nothing much for her to say about herself.

Next up was another senior buddy. She seemed to be pretty good friends with Katie. "I'm Alicia Spinnet," she said, showing off her white teeth and tugging slightly on her light brown ponytail, "I'm from New York City, and I play soccer also."

The next girl had dark brown hair and sparkling green eyes. She had an almost evil demeanor about her. "I'm Domino Armstrong, I'm from Dallas, Texas, and I like theater." She shot a strange look at Hermione after finishing her sentence. Hermione shook inwardly.

"I'm California Garcia-Robinson from Phoenix, Arizona," came the next girl extremely loudly. She was wearing a long, flowered skirt and her long blonde hair had strategically placed braids spread around it. She was your stereotypical hippie weirdo. "I like to sing."

And finally it was the last girl's turn. She wasn't overly peppy or really frightening, she just looked genuinely happy to be here. A feeling Hermione wished she could feel. "I'm Rachel Hirsch," she said, "I'm from Sacramento, California, and I run cross country."

Hermione was just about ready to fall over and die.

**0000**

It was only the first night and already Draco Malfoy had something to complain about; a bedtime.

"This is absurd," he said, grumbling to his newly made friends, Theodore Nott and Blaise Zabini. "Why on earth do we have bedtimes? I mean honestly!"

The other two nodded in agreement. This was the way Draco liked it; people under his command.

"At home I wouldn't be going to bed until two in the morning!" he cried. "Not eleven-o-clock! That's ridiculous!"

Theo and Blaise nodded robotically again.

"My parents were right for once," Draco continued, now pacing around his dorm room. "I shouldn't have gone to a school with such a retarded name." He stopped mid-stride. "If I were at any of the other schools that I had applied to, there wouldn't be all these ridiculous rules!"

"Actually," Theo pointed out, "this school has some of the fewest rules of any boarding school in the country."

Draco stared at him. So did Blaise.

"Well," Draco said finally, "that's fucking dumb."

Theo shrugged looked somewhat uncomfortable.

"Where are you from again?" Blaise asked.

"Knoxville, Tennessee," Theo answered. "Where are you guys from?"

"New York City," was Draco's response.

"Beverly Hills, California," came from Blaise.

Theo looked even more uncomfortable.

As long as he listened to Draco he would have no problem here. At least that's what Draco was thinking to himself…

**0000**

The next day was another day just spilling with bonding activities. After eating breakfast with their senior buddies, groups were assigned to each other and went into a forest behind a girls' dorm to do more activities. Hermione, Parvati, and Lavender combined groups with Harry, Ron, and Neville, and Draco, Theo, and Blaise. Their first activity was to try and get everyone over a wall, only having three people on the ledge on the top of the wall at once. This was nobody's idea of fun. Nobody's.

"Okay, so how are we going to do this?" Ron asked the group as the nine's senior buddies looked on.

"How about we just have two people push a really tall person who can get up there easily to the top and then people just pull and push from there," Draco said quickly, clearly wanting to get this over with.

"Okay. So who's pushing and who's going up first?" Ron asked, looking out into the group.

No one volunteered.

Draco sighed dramatically. "Fine; Blaise and I will push Ron up to the top first, since he's the tallest," Draco announced. "How does that sound?"

Harry turned to Hermione as she surveyed the scene.

"I'm Harry," he said, holding out his hand to shake. She seemed just as lost and nervous as he was.

"Hermione," she said, taking his hand. "Where are you from?"

"Boston," he answered. He had a somewhat prominent accent. "You?"

"Colorado," she answered.

"What dorm are you in?" Harry questioned.

"Uh… Thomas Jefferson," she said, as though the name was somewhat difficult for her to say.

Harry nodded. "I'm in Kennedy."

"Oh, so we're both in… Gryffindor…" Gryffindor was harder for her to say than Thomas Jefferson.

"Yup," Harry responded, turning to face the scene of Ron dangling from the wall and Draco standing angrily below him as Blaise tried to help push the redhead up. "…Good ole Gryffindor…" he said quietly.

**0000**

**A/N: **Okay, I have a lot of explaining to do. I had to make up dorms because everyone can't be in the same dorm… I'm trying to make this somewhat like a realistic American boarding school. Also, I had to make up some characters as well, especially since we don't know, for example, any other Gryffindor girls in Hermione's year besides her, Parvati and Lavender. And I would like to point out that there is a girl at the school I am currently attending named Domino, so I'm not just copying the stupid new Keira Knightley movie by making a character named Domino. People are actually named Domino. Apparently. And sorry for any OOC-ness. I'll try to abolish it in the future, but for now, this is what's happening! Please review! Future chapters will be longer! Oh, and if you can suggest a better title, please do so! Because the current one… kind of is in need of changing… (this was an extremely long Author's Note…)


	2. Flying Noodles

**A/N: **Yay! Five reviews! How exciting.

**eccentricismyname: **Thanks so much for reviewing! I really appreciate it. I don't really like boarding school, but it isn't really like how it's portrayed in the movies.

**Alenor: **Thanks so much for reviewing! I'm glad you like it.

**Shannon: **Hahahaha, Elizabeth saying bondage! Aw, I miss Lizzie. Yeah, it's what it's like but no, it's not fun. Lol.

**xxlei: **I know Domino is based off a real person, but it's not really a name you hear everyday, and Domino doesn't necessarily have to be her real name. Omg Matt caught you when you fell off a tre? Hahaha! Tell me about it, please!

**Keanu: **Yay! I'm glad you think the story is well written! I've never really thought of myself as much of a… well… _talented_ writer. So thanks a lot for your compliment and review!

**Lady-In-Devils-Red: **Woo thanks for reviewing! Of course we can pretend Cho isn't in Raveclaw… Or that she has all the Gryffindor passwords… Heehee. Keep on reviewing :D Lol thanks!

**Disclaimer: **I don't own any Harry Potter characters, The OC, MTV,

**0000**

"It's TJ."

"What?" Hermione puzzledly asked Katie as she took her and the rest of her buddy group into town to buy their books. Alicia was there with her group too.

"The dorm Thomas Jefferson is mostly referred to as TJ," Katie continued as they walked down a steep, badly paved hill surrounded by lavish suburban houses to make their way toward town. "No one calls it Thomas Jefferson."

"…Okay…" Hermione said. She didn't want to call her dorm the same thing that Summer from The OC called Tijuana, the drinking and partying town on the border of Mexico that she traveled to with Seth, Ryan, and Marissa on that fateful episode. Hermione was ashamed to admit that she had watched her fair share of OC episodes.

"Were you in TJ, Katie?" Lavender questioned, blinking hugely.

"Yup," Katie replied. "Alicia and I were on the same hall."

"That's so cool! And you guys are like, best friends now?" Lavender stated.

Katie and Alicia laughed but didn't respond.

California laughed loudly. "Maybe I'll be best friends with one of you guys by my senior year!" she cried.

Domino looked sick at the thought of it.

They reached town in a minute. It pretty much consisted of one long street with a big chain drugstore, a big chain bank, a few chain restaurants, and other random stores. The bookstore, located off to the side of a parking lot, had a huge line trailing out of it, made up of students sweaty from standing in the heat all morning.

Hermione stood awkwardly in the line as Alicia and Katie talked avidly with each other, and California babbled on about nothing while Lavender, Parvati, and Rachel listened attentively. Domino, on the other hand, was staring off into space. Hermione didn't quite understand her.

"Hey… Hermione…?"

She tore her gaze away from Domino and saw Harry standing before her.

"Oh, hi," she said. "Harry, right?"

"Yeah." He seemed to be standing in line with his buddy group in front of hers. "This is Ron and Neville," he said, gesturing toward a tall redhead and a slightly chubby brunette standing next to him. Hermione couldn't help but notice that Ron was kind of cute.

"Nice to meet you," Hermione said, smiling politely.

Ron and Neville nodded in response.

"Where are you guys from?" she asked curiously.

"New Hampshire," said Neville, his voice cracking.

"Philadelphia," said Ron.

This time it was Hermione who nodded.

"Oh, hey, people!" came none other than California's loud voice from behind them. She pushed by Hermione and held her hand out to the three boys. "I'm California Armstrong from Phoenix, Arizona. It's really nice to meet you all."

Ron looked slightly perturbed as he shook her hand. "Why is your name California if you're from Phoenix?" he asked, confused.

"Well, my parents love to travel, and they named us all after the cities or states we were conceived in," she explained. Ron's face turned red. "My brothers are named Dallas and Montana, and my sister is Phoenix." She smiled broadly.

Ron nodded, uninterested.

Ron intrigued Hermione almost as much as Domino did.

**0000**

Draco knew he could do it; he already met girls. Pansy Parkinson, Millicent Bulstrode, and Veruca Wolff all lived in the Slytherin girls' dorm, Kensington. He'd met them and several others that day and the day before and now he was eating dinner the day before classes started with the three plus Blaise and Theo.

"So, you're from Miami, right?" Draco said to Veruca through a mouthful of pasta. The food at this school tasted like shit.

"Yeah," she said almost quietly, looking at him through thick eyelashes.

He looked down at his food to show disinterest to her seduction.

"The VMAs were in Miami this year, weren't they?" Blaise questioned.

Draco shot him a confused look.

"Yeah," Veruca repeated, wiping her mouth daintily with a napkin. "I went to them."

"Sweet," Blaise said, avoiding Draco's death glare.

The blonde scoffed and poked at a noodle. It squeezed out from beneath his fork and shot straight through the air and into Lavender's eye, where it was sitting attached to her body at the table next to the Slytherins'.

"Holy shit," Theo expressed, staring from Draco's plate to Lavender's eye incredulously.

Lavender squealed when the noodle made contact with her and jumped a few inches from her seat. She was sitting with Parvati, Hermione, and Domino. Luckily, California had found other people to bother and Rachel had been smart enough to make some other friends. Domino still followed them around suspiciously.

"Oh my gosh, are you okay?" was Parvati's quick response.

Lavender nodded tearily, wiping her tomato-sauce covered eye with a napkin.

"Aren't you going to apologize?" Veruca said to Draco snappily.

Draco sneered at her uncomfortably and grudgingly pushed out his chair and stepped toward the girls' table. "Are you alright?" he asked boredly.

Lavender nodded, her cheeks tinted slightly pink.

"Sorry." He turned quickly and sat back down again, not even bothering to smirk obnoxiously at Veruca. She was really bothering him. He decided to go to dinner with her because he thought she was hot; dark hair, big, sparkling eyes, a nice body. But clearly she had more on her mind than being a sex object. Draco got up and put his tray on the rack in the kitchen. When he walked back into the eating area, he glanced at Lavender's table. Lavender was pretty, but plain. Parvati wasn't his type. Domino was pretty sexy, but sort of in a Veruca way. Hermione seemed like one of those girls he would secretly lust after for the next four years, but be too ashamed to tell anyone. Of course, he didn't know any of these girls' names, but he could have his thoughts.

"Let's head back to the dorm," Draco suggested to Theo and Blaise, eagerly wanting to get away from Veruca. Pansy was hot, but sort of looked like a midget alien, and Millicent was almost mannish. But they weren't worth his time at that moment. He'd rather be meeting hotter girls who would be easier to get. And he certainly was confident that he would find them.

**0000**

The night before the start of classes, the first Monday that the students had ever spent at Hogwarts, the TJ common room was filled with boys.

After dinner, Hermione returned with hopes of having a peaceful evening. However, the first thing she was going to have to learn was that things were going to be far from peaceful at Hogwarts. At least when there were girls and boys to conquer each other.

Hermione entered the common room to sign in looking just slightly dazed and confused. She saw Harry and Ron sitting on a couch, but there were also about eight other guys sprawled across the various cheap and falling apart chairs and sofas. There were also girls everywhere, some of which Hermione had never even laid eyes upon yet, but soon discovered were going to be her dorm mates for the rest of the year, also draped over everything, including the boys. It actually freaked Hermione out a bit. She'd never really been a flirt. In fact, she'd never really had male friends. This was all somewhat foreign to her.

She glanced at Ron and Harry. They cocked their heads in her direction. She was about to have a panic attack.

She turned to leave the room when suddenly Lavender and Parvati entered the common room, Lavender looking more bright-eyed than ever, despite her encounter with a flying noodle earlier.

"Where are you going, Hermione?" Lavender asked happily.

Hermione could only manage a shrug and a whimper.

"Stay in the common room with us," Lavender continued. "It'll be fun!"

Hermione chewed on the inside of her lip as Lavender turned her around and dragged her to the center of the sitting area. The TV was on, blaring an obnoxious MTV show.

"Hey, everyone," Lavender greeted. "What are all your names?"

The ones that actually heard her question over the loudness of the room, which were most of the group, went around saying their names. By the end, Hermione's head was already spinning. Most of the guys were from the other Gryffindor boys' dorm, Kennedy. Hermione hadn't been planning on spending any time with boys or knowing any boys or hanging out in any boys' dorms, so she just told herself to ignore all that was going on, and try her best to not have a heart attack in the middle of the "TJ" common room.

But that proved to be a little hard, because right that minute, she fainted.

**0000**

When Hermione regained consciousness, she found herself lying on a couch in the head of the dorm's apartment. She shot up, gasping.

"Oh, how are you feeling, Hermione?" Mrs. McGonagall, the head of Thomas Jefferson asked her. She was sitting at a desk with a computer on it.

"Um, fine," she said quietly. "What happened?"

"You fainted in the common room. It was a bit stuffy in there; understandable," the teacher continued, smiling almost eerily.

"Okay… Uh… Thanks," she said. "Can I… um… go?"

"Oh, yes, of course." Mrs. McGonagall got up as Hermione pulled herself off the couch and left the room with a quiet "thank you". "Sleep well!"

Hermione sprinted up the stairs to her room. She fumbled getting the key into the lock, giving Lavender and Parvati just enough time to pounce on her.

"Hermione, are you alright?" Lavender asked, concern spilled all across her bright face.

"Yeah, that was scary what happened!" Parvati said.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Hermione reassured, opening the door to her room. "How long was I out for?"

"You fainted, oh, ten or so minutes ago?" Lavender answered, thinking hard.

"Okay," Hermione said. She turned quickly into her room and closed the door behind her. She didn't care how much of a freak she made herself seem to be; there was one thing on her mind, and it was convincing her parents to let her come home.

**0000**

"I hope that girl is okay," Dean Thomas said. He was sitting next to Ron, Harry, and Seamus Finnegan on the couch in Thomas Jefferson.

"Yeah, that was scary," Harry added. "Why am I forgetting her name? It was something weird…" He stared at the ceiling as he racked his brain.

"Hermione," Ron said simply.

"Right! Hermione…"

"Why did she faint?" wondered Seamus. "I mean, it was kind of weird, if you ask me."

"It's stuffy and chaotic in here," Ron reasoned. "That could happen to anyone."

Dean and Seamus exchanged glances. Why was Ron being so suddenly defensive for this random girl?

Ron sat back at the couch, folding his arms. He stared at the TV, though not really thinking about it.

Harry could sense the awkward tension. He cleared his throat and turned to Seamus. "So, you're from Canada right?" he asked.

Seamus nodded.

"Where, again?"

"Vancouver."

"So how'd you get from all the way on the west coast of Canada to a school on the east coast of the US?" Harry asked.

"My school ended after middle school," Seamus explained, his Canadian accent contrasting Harry's Bostonian one. "And someone suggested to me that I should check out boarding schools in the US."

Harry nodded. "That's really cool." There was silence again and the awkwardness resumed. After a minute, which felt more like several, Dean and Seamus finally decided to go talk to some girls. Harry joined them, but Ron stayed awkwardly on the couch. On his face was an expression of a mix of annoyance, embarrassment, and confusion.

One thing that Harry knew was that these people were definitely going to be good entertainment for the next school year.

**0000**

**A/N: **Bleh. I don't like how Hermione is. At first she was all sarcastic, and now she's like a spaz. And Ron has anger problems. What am I doing? I'll try and change things in the next chapters. At least this one was longer! …Ish. Also, I realized that I didn't make anyone a day student, but that's kind of hard because I'm trying to make people live with the same people they live with in the books. So if I make day students, they'll have to be made up people, and I already have too many made up people. And Veruca and Domino are unfortunately similar. Please review and tell me your thoughts. Good ones, bad ones, insulting ones; I want to know! Thanks.


	3. There's Something About Fleur

**A/N:** Sorry I haven't updated in a while… I'm feeling sort of a writer's block somewhat for this story. Thanks to all the reviewers! I just want to mention that I don't know what grade Zacharias Smith and Michael Corner are, but according to a website their grades are "unknown" so in this story this story they're going to be in Harry's class. Also, there have been things that make me conclude that Michael is in Harry's class, despite having dated Ginny…

**Spooty: **Thanks so much! I'm really glad that you like my stories. I know it's corny but I really like it when people say that because I'm not always totally confident with all my writing. So I'm really glad that you like it, and when people consistently review more than one story, it shows that they actually care about my writing, which I also love!

**Alenor:** Thanks a lot! She fainted because she was going a bit crazy with all the people and she was very overwhelmed. Sorry if that wasn't completely clear. Thanks for your review.

**WEASLYTWINWANNABE: **Thanks for reviewing! If you don't mind me asking, where do you go to school? It's just sort of random because I rarely know anyone else who goes to boarding school… Outside of my school, obviously.

**Disclaimer: **I don't own the characters or the cluster names…

**0000**

By Friday everyone had discovered the strange scheduling that was practiced at Hogwarts. On Wednesdays and Thursdays the students had double periods and classes ended at 1:00 on Wednesdays because of sporting events.

Ron, of course, knew all this already. He was the second to youngest of seven children and all five of his older brothers had gone to Hogwarts. Fred and George were still attending the school. It was their junior year. And they took pride in making their brother's life as embarrassing as possible.

"Hi, Ronniekins!" they cried in unison from across the Dining Hall. It was bad enough to have sixth period lunch and not being able to eat until 1:00 in the afternoon, but to have your brothers have the same lunch period and decide to yell to you using your mother's unflattering nicknames makes things just that much worse. He put his head in his hands.

He was eating lunch at a table with Harry, who seemed to be his closest friend so far, Dean and Seamus, who were attached at the hip, Ernie, who sort of annoyed him with his pompous attitude, Zacharias Smith, Justin Finch-Fletchley, and Michael Corner. He had his classes with mostly the same group of people, which helped him get to know people well enough to develop friendships. Unfortunately, the boys and girls weren't quite comfortable with sitting with each other during meals yet. Well, maybe that wasn't so unfortunate.

"I think it's funny," Dean commented, referring to Fred and George's jests.

"Well try having them do it to you," Ron grumbled, poking pitifully at his macaroni with his fork.

"Deaniekins," Seamus created, laughing.

Dean made a face at him.

Ron stared up at the big clock next to the entrance of the Dining Hall they were eating in. There were four Dining Halls. This was because eating used to be separated by grade. It was only 1:20 and class didn't start until 2:00. He was incredibly bored. He got up to put his tray away and then sat down at the table again.

"I'm bored," he said, "Let's go do something."

"You just want to get away from your brothers," Seamus inferred.

"No, seriously," Ron urged. "We're just sitting here. Let's do something."

"Okay, Ron, I dare you to go over to the girls' table and sit with them," Michael joked. The boys laughed lightly.

Ron thought for a moment. "Fine," he said, standing up.

"I wasn't serious…" Michael added.

"No, I'll do it." He marched over to the table at which Hermione, Lavender, Parvati, Hannah Abbot, and Padma Patil were sitting. He pulled an empty chair over to a corner between Lavender and Hannah. "Hi," he said simply.

The girls exchanged immature glances.

"Hi," Lavender said, giggling.

An awkward silence filled the table.

"So… uh… has everyone had a good… first week?" Ron asked, interrupting the silence.

A few "yeah"s and "sort of"s floated along the table and then it was silent again.

This is why not sitting with the girls may not have been so unfortunate after all.

**0000**

Hermione sat in her Biology 100 class forty minutes later trying desperately to take notes while Lavender babbled on next to her with Padma Patil. It was all she could do not to turn around and slap her. She wished Mr. Slughorn would notice and tell them to be quiet.

"The second characteristic of living things is that they reproduce," Mr. Slughorn continued.

"I'd like to reproduce with Domino," Hermione heard Blaise whisper loudly to Theo at the row of seats in front of her.

Hermione couldn't believe not only how immature the statement was, but how stupid it was as well. Blaise seemed like the type of person who would think up better one-liners than that. But then again, maybe not.

"Clever, Blaise," Mr. Slughorn commented before continuing on with the lesson.

Hermione glanced over at Domino. She sat smugly at her seat; her naturally tanned and pimple-free skin wasn't even turning the least bit pink. Hermione had known the girl for less than a week and already she hated her. She hated how perfect she was and how she never lost her cool and how she walked around as though she owned the world. It seemed like it, too. Boys loved her but most of the girls were afraid of her. It wasn't that Hermione was boy crazy, but she was jealous. She just had to remind herself that she was the one with people sitting on both sides of her, not Domino, who was sitting alone at her table.

Hermione smiled to herself as she continued taking her notes.

**0000**

In the classroom next-door, Ron, as well as most of the boys in the class, was staring open-mouthed at the teacher. She happened to be a French teaching fellow named Fleur Delacour. She had long, flowing white-blonde hair that cascaded down her back and she was model-thin with big, sparkling blue eyes. Apparently she was every boy in that class's dream girl. Especially Ron's.

Draco, on the other hand, didn't particularly take much of an interest in Ms. Delacour. This was most likely because he and she happened to look very similar. And that intimidated him.

"Zee second characteristic of living things ees zee ability to reproduce," Ms. Delacour said in her stereotypical French accent. That also bothered Draco.

"I'd like to reproduce with Ms. Delacour," Ron whispered loudly to Dean and Seamus, who he was sitting with.

"Too bad you'd never bag a chick like that," Draco said loudly in response.

Ron turned red.

"Excuse moi?" she asked spacily. "Sorry, zey told me not to speak in French. What are you boys talking about and will you please stop?"

"Sorry, Ms. Delacour," Draco said mockingly.

"Good. Now, let's continue…"

Ron stared at the back of Draco's head as though he could kill him with his eyes. If he could, he probably would be gutted on the floor, bleeding all over the glossy black surface. Unfortunately for Ron and fortunately for Draco, he couldn't. Ron had decided from the second he met Draco Malfoy that he would hate him and he did. He thought he was rude and pompous and was not looking forward to spending four years with him.

Well he would have to get used to it sooner or later.

**0000**

The students couldn't believe how much homework they had their first weekend of classes. Between the heaps of work and the intense bonding activities that they were required to participate in on Saturday, there wasn't much time for fun and games the first day back. Hermione learned soon enough that there was a direct view into the Common Room from her room, and when she glanced down into it that Sunday evening and saw that it was packed with annoying freshmen who didn't have lives, she knew better than to head down there. So she stayed in her room even though she had finished her work.

She sat down at her desk and opened up her computer, preparing for a calm evening. But something always had to break that. This time it was Jamie Foxx's loud voice impersonating Ray Charles singing through the seemingly thick walls surrounding her room.

"She take my money when I'm in need," he sang.

Hermione moaned to herself and dropped her head onto her desk. Then she picked her head up to investigate the source of the noise. She stood up and cracked open her door, sticking her head outside.

Now Kanye West was singing. "Now I ain't sayin' she's a gold digger," came his voice from up the hall.

She stepped out of her room and walked up the hallway, pressing her ear against each door as she did so until she found the source of the noise. She pulled her head back to read the name on the door. Domino. But of course.

She knocked on the door.

"Get down girl, go 'head, get down."

No response. She knocked again, more loudly.

"Get down girl, go 'head, get down."

Hermione ordinarily didn't mind this song _that_ much, but Domino was simply slaughtering it.

"What?" she finally heard coming from the other side of the door.

"Could you turn your music down just a bit?" Hermione asked, trying not to sound as irritated as she felt.

The music lowered about a decibel.

Hermione contemplated yelling at her again, but it was no use.

"…Thanks…" she grumbled just loud enough for Domino to hear through Kanye's rap.

**0000**

One would think that Draco Malfoy had a good Sunday night. But he wasn't satisfied.

"I saw you snuggling up to Pansy back there," Blaise said that night when they headed back to their dorm in the dark for study hours. "What happened?"

Draco shrugged, his hands in his pockets.

"Did you two hook up?" Blaise questioned, almost cautiously but not quite.

Draco shrugged again.

Blaise laughed loudly. "First action of the year," he announced, holding his hand out for Draco to slap. "Nice job."

Draco smirked. "What can I say?"

"You don't have to say anything," Blaise responded quickly.

"Well, what's going on between you and Veruca?" Draco asked as they reached the dorm.

Blaise sighed as he unlocked and opened the big metal door. "I don't know. She may be hot but she is _not_ easy."

This time it was Draco who laughed. "At least you have a conquest for this year!" The two stepped through the door.

"This year?" Blaise replied incredulously, stopping in the hallway. "I think you mean this _week._"

"You think it will only take you a week to hook up with Veruca?"

"Yes," Blaise answered confidently.

Draco held out his hand. "Ten bucks you won't."

Blaise took it. "It's a deal."

**0000**

**A/N: **That was the corniest thing in the entire universe. Whatever, at least I got out another chapter! Hah. I have no idea how boys interact with each other. Incase you haven't noticed. Anyway, please review! If you do I'll give you three big Hershey's chocolate bars with almonds in them. Unless you're allergic. In your review would you be so kind as to tell me whether or not you pronounc the "L" in almond? Don't ask…


	4. Jealousy

**A/N: **I'll pretend I got more than one review for the last chapter… Heh…

**xxlei: **Yeah, Fleur would be in 12th grade. But I'm… er… stretching it.

**Disclaimer: **I don't own any Harry Potter characters. Or Destinos. Or The Real World.

**0000**

It did not take long to discover that Harry Potter was a soccer phenomenon. He claimed that he played a little bit at home but not a whole lot. Somehow that got him on the Hogwarts Varsity Team. That was a big deal.

And it was how he ended up on the bus to the first game of the season that Wednesday afternoon with seniors and juniors and a few talented sophomores. He was the only freshmen.

"So, Harry, where are you from?" Fred Weasley asked him, leaning over the back of his seat to talk to Harry.

"Boston," Harry answered.

"You hang out with Ronniekins a lot, don't you?" George asked jokingly.

Harry laughed slightly. "Yeah."

"Our apologies if he gets too annoying," Fred added.

"He's not annoying," Harry answered. "You two just have to stop teasing him so much."

The two practically fell off their seats with laughter.

"Stop teasing our little brother?" George asked incredulously. "That's like telling Marcus Flint to not be a prick!"

"I'm sitting right here, you dumbass," Marcus announced from a few rows behind the three.

Harry personally was a little afraid of Marcus Flint, and he somewhat admired Fred and George for being brave enough to make fun of a senior.

Suddenly Marcus was right next to Harry's ear. "Harry, stay away from these idiots," he advised.

Harry pulled his head away slightly. "Okay… Thanks…"

Marcus disappeared back to his own seat.

"They must not have girls in Alaska," George guessed loudly. "Marcus would be a much happier guy if he got any."

A shoe came flying at George's head from behind Harry, but he deftly ducked out of the way.

"Can you three stop acting like retards for five seconds?" a voice Harry recognized to be Adrian Pucey's yelled from the back of the bus.

"Why would you call a fellow Slytherin a retard, Adrian?" Marcus questioned.

Fred leaned toward Harry and whispered, "I guess they don't get any in Kansas, either."

**0000**

Hermione found her first crush at Hogwarts. Most people would dread a Spanish 200 double period, but Hermione counted down the seconds until each one. This was because she could sit directly across the room from and get a perfect view of the beautiful Bulgarian post-graduate, Viktor Krum. What a gorgeous creature.

Hermione also had the class with Draco, Veruca, and Blaise but Viktor made all three of them seem obsolete. Three fire-breathing dragons could take their place and she still wouldn't even notice as long as Viktor was there.

Well, three fire-breathing dragons would be an improvement to those three any day.

"Ms. Granger?" Mr. Flitwick asked. "Ms. Granger?"

She tore her eyes away from Viktor as she shot back to reality and realized that he, as well as the rest of the class, was staring at her. "Sorry," she said, turning red. "… Los sientos. ¿Qué es la pregunta?"

"¿Por qué Raquel viajó a america del sur?" Mr. Flitwick asked Hermione.

"Raquel viajó a america del sur porque ella necesitó encontrar el hijo de Don Fernando…?" Hermione answered to the best of her ability. She could hear Draco snort at her response from halfway across the room. She ignored him.

"Muy bien, Hermione," Mr. Flitwick responded, turning to Malfoy. "Y Draco, ¿porqué Don Fernando quiere que Raquel viajar a america del sur?"

"Don Fernando recibió una carta de una mujer y la carta dijo que Don Fernando tuvo un hijo en america del sur," Draco answered immaculately, staring at Hermione evilly as he answered the question and being sure to add a smirk to the end.

Hermione folded her arms across her chest and scowled. She looked up in hopes that Viktor wasn't looking at her. He was.

**0000**

Blaise had Art first period Friday morning with Veruca. He still hadn't hooked up with her and time was running out. His class was doing visual art their first trimester which thus far consisted of the students painting a still life of fruit. Every single class period.

"So, Veruca, what are you doing this afternoon?" Blaise questioned stealthily.

She shrugged.

"Hanging out at your dorm? Our dorm?"

She shrugged again. "Probably."

"Which one?"

She shrugged.

"I walked right into that…" he said to himself. There was an awkward silence. He cleared his throat and spoke again, "What's it like in Miami?"

"Great," she said, adding some more shadow to her bananas. "P. Diddy's house is right near mine and he has the loudest parties. On school nights."

Blaise was a little skeptical of that one.

Blaise lived in _Beverly Hills_.

"Could you pass the blue paint?" she asked, barely looking him in the eye.

"Oh… Yeah…" He reached over and grabbed the blue tube of paint from next to Millicent Bullstrode's palate. "Here."

She snatched it rudely from him.

"Hey, I was using that," Millicent grunted piggishly.

"Take it up with the princess," Blaise grumbled to himself. It occurred to him that Veruca probably had super hearing powers, or something. He glanced over at her, just to make sure she wasn't about to kill him with laser beams shooting out of her eyes. She was a scary girl.

**0000**

Draco had all but two classes with Hermione, biology and math. Biology he didn't care about because they were both in Biology 100. Math, on the other hand, was different. Draco was in Math 210, which was Geometry, which was the average advanced class for freshmen in the U.S. Hermione was in math 320, which was Trigonometry or Algebra II or something that wasn't the average advanced class for freshmen. This made Draco mad.

He stared enviously through the open door into Hermione's classroom down and across the hall. He could see her, patiently taking notes toward the side of the classroom. She wasn't even shoved to the back like an outcast, like she should have been. No, she was sitting quietly doing what she always did. And he resented her for it.

He was sitting in the front row in between Blaise and Pansy, surrounded by dimwitted people who, like him, could not place into an even higher math. Why not? Why not! He had always excelled. Why couldn't he just be smarter than everyone else for one second and not be stupider than a stupid Granger from nowhere land Colorado. He was from a prestigious Upper East Side Manhattan family who deserved better then a lousy Geometry 210 Math class at such an academy as Hogwarts where he was smothered by other people at higher tiers and rungs of the social and academic ladder than he was. He didn't even make it onto the varsity soccer team! He was stuck on JV1! What had he done to deserve this low fate?

"God, Draco, how do you do this?" Pansy burst his thought bubble, leaning over and slapping her thick notebook on his desk.

"Pansy, proofing is the easiest thing we'll learn this year," Draco said obnoxiously. "Ask Mr. Vector after class for help if it's bothering you so much."

She let out something that sounded like a whimper and slithered back to her own seat.

Next it was Blaise who leaned over to talk to Draco. "You're pretty mean to Pansy for someone who spent a great deal of time last Sunday making out with her," he whispered.

"Shut up," Draco retorted. "All I did was make out with her. It doesn't mean we're married or that I signed a niceness contract…"

Blaise sat back in his seat. "That was pretty lame," he said.

He flipped his friend off what he thought was inconspicuously but clearly wasn't.

"Mr. Malfoy, what was that?" Mr. Vector questioned.

"Nothing, Mr. Vector," Draco said.

"Just stretching your fingers?"

"Yup."

The teacher turned back to the blackboard and Draco stared loathingly into Hermione's classroom once more. If he was in there he wouldn't have to deal with the ignorance of Pansy and Blaise and other assorted lowlifes.

**0000**

There was one other freshman in Hermione's Math class; Terry Boot, an awkward Ravenclaw boy from Massachusetts. Hermione didn't dislike him; he seemed perfectly nice when he talked to her – she just would rather have another freshmen that was more… interesting, maybe, in her class.

As though on cue, Adrian Pucey leaned over and started talking to Hermione.

"There'll probably be a pretty sweet party down in Dippet Room tonight," he said.

She almost jumped in her seat. "Where?"

"Dippet Room. It's like the hangout spot," Adrian explained. When Hermione still looked puzzled he continued, "…Below Commons…?"

"Never heard of it," she said, facing the board and avidly taking notes.

"Your senior buddy didn't tell you about it?"

"No." She paused. "Why does it have such a weird name?"

"It's named after a former headmaster," Adrian informed her. "Armando Dippet."

"Oh, I've heard of him," she said. "I read about him in _Hogwarts, A History_."

Adrian laughed a little too loudly. "You read that shit?"

"Adrian, please stop bothering Ms. Granger and pay attention," Ms. McGonagall said strictly.

Adrian leaned back into his own seat. Hermione was sort of confused. Why would a popular junior like Adrian tell her about some party that night?

**0000**

It was exactly one week after Blaise and Draco made their bet and Blaise was _this close_ to seducing her. The lights were off in the Kensington Common Room. It was crowded and hot and dark. How perfect. He had his arm around her and everything.

"Ugh, I hate this show," Veruca complained. Someone had switched the channel on the TV to The Real World, but no one was watching it. She got up and changed the channel.

_This close_.

She sat down next to him again. He didn't even bother waiting and threw his arm around her once again. He could make out Draco's glow in the dark skin and hair from across the room. He was squished between Pansy and Millicent, both of whom were trying to seduce him.

_This close_.

He was sick of waiting. He just leaned over and started making out with Veruca.

Draco, too, could see it all from his position across the room. He was annoyed that he was going to have to give Blaise ten bucks, especially since he wasn't sure how much he liked him right then. He seemed a bit below his level. But then again he had to hand it to the kid; Veruca was a hard catch to make.

**0000**

**A/N: **Corny again, but it had to happen sometime. When I wrote "He just leaned over and started making out with Veruca" I originally wrote "… started making out with Draco" by accident. Haha. Some of the symbols such as upside down question marks in the Spanish might not show up when I post this, but I put them in there! Here's a translation of the Spanish I probably wrote incorrectly: "Sorry. What is the question?", "Why did Raquel travel to South America?", "Raquel traveled to South America because she needed to meet Don Fernando's son…?", "Very good, Hermione. And Draco, why does Don Fernando want Raquel to travel to South America?", "Don Fernando received a letter from a woman and the letter said that Don Fernando had a son in South America." This is about a Spanish TV show thing I watched in Spanish class called Destinos and I probably got the storyline wrong. If you review I'll translate and give you a lot of episodes! It's really quite intense.


	5. Avoidance in More Ways Than One

**A/N: **Thanks so much to all the reviewers! Even if there are few, your reviews are greatly appreciated.

**Alenor: **Yeah… We'll see where it goes :) Thanks for reviewing!

**xxlei: **Heehee. Silly jb.

**Shan: **Thanks! I wrote a translation at the bottom, silly pants. Thank you for reviewing and I'm glad you like!

**Disclaimer: **I own nothing. Except for… Their alternate Muggle identities? I guess…

**0000**

The only reason why a select group of Slytherin freshman boys ever went to breakfast was because it was on the way to their first period Art class. Otherwise, they wouldn't go. The freshman boys taking Music didn't, as it was completely out of the way from the Music class.

But Blaise dragged Draco along – much to his extreme dismay, might I add – just so he could continue babbling on about his adventures from the previous night.

So that is how Blaise, Draco, Theo, Crabbe, and Goyle all made up a table that morning at breakfast.

"So then I just got sick of it. I just started making out with her. I mean, what's the point in waiting forever if neither of us is going to make the move? I had to just do it."

"You're a brave soul," Draco responded sarcastically, patting his friend on the shoulder roughly. "Now, can I go to class?"

"Draco, you still have fifteen minutes," Blaise retorted. "Do you really need all that time?"

"Well I'd rather show up early to Music than listen to you give the hundredth redition of your Veruca escapades," Draco replied, standing up and pushing his chair back with a loud sqeak that seemed to echo through the quiet Dining Hall.

"Did I hear my name?" the girl waltzed over to the boys in her barely there white cotton skirt and long, beige tank-top. Most of the boys – very much including Blaise – were ogling at her goodies, but Draco had more important things on his mind than trashy hoes that flaunted their junk too often.

"Yeah, and it wasn't in good regards," Draco said, turning and leaving as quickly as he could.

She easily took his seat. "What's his problem?" It was almost as though Veruca had lost her entire seductive and secretive demeanor just because she had made out with Blaise. Now she had reduced herself to just being a total sexpot.

When no one responded, Goyle thought it his civic duty to do so. "He's probably jealous because Blaise –"

The boy in question interrupted the oaf. "Shut up, you idiot."

"Why is he jealous of Blaise?" Veruca prodded.

"No reason," Blaise answered coolly. "Goyle is just misinterpereting Draco's manners."

Veruca looked dubious. "Maybe girls at your old school were total airheads, but we all got into Hogwarts so clearly I'm not." She continued to stare at Blaise as he acted like he didn't get the hint. She then edged her chair closer to the boy's. "Could he possibly be jealous of some action that the two of us got last night that he most likely did not?"

Blaise uncontrollably turned a deep shade of red. "I'm going to head off to Art a little early today and finish up my painting… thing…" He hurriedly got up out of his seat and left the Dining Hall.

Veruca just sat and smirked to herself.

**0000**

Hermione found herself sitting next to Adrian Pucey again that Monday. He leaned over and started to talk to her. He seemed to be making a habit of this.

"I didn't see you in Dippet on Friday," he said.

She shrugged, getting slightly nervous.

"You really should check it out some time; it's fun," he said.

She let out a small whimper and started copying down the notes from the board for the second time.

There was silence for a minute.

"Listen," Adrian started up again.

"_Shut up, shut up, shut up!_" Hermione shouted at him in her brain. He was _really_ making her nervous.

"You seem like a really nice girl," he continued. "And you're great at math. So I was wondering if you could maybe… help me out a bit?"

She threw her hand into the air.

"Hermione?" said Ms. McGonagall.

"Can I go to the bathroom?" she squeaked.

"Yes."

She darted out of her chair and out of the classroom.

**0000**

The week dragged on. Blaise continued to be afraid of Veruca in some sense. It wasn't necessarily that he was _afraid_ of her. More like he was just greatly intimidated and confused by her completely changed actions. She still had a bitchy personality, but suddenly she had become a sex bitch rather than a flat out bitch-bitch.

Hermione sat right in between Cho Chang and Angelina Johnson for the rest of the week. She was trying her hardest to avoid Adrian. He was scaring the crap out of her, to put it simply.

They all awoke to a beautifully dreary day that Thursday with rain pouring down in buckets and the air was uncomfortably sticky. Walking around campus was similar to walking through an endless, sugary waterfall. In some sense.

Ron and Harry would have liked nothing more than to not be experiencing a double Spanish with the hideous and psychotic Ms. Trelawney. She wasn't even a drop hispanic, so why was she teaching them, anyway?

"So get in your groups and rehearse the dialogue," the beaded woman commanded in an airy voice. "I'll be back in a minute to see your performances!"

"So what are we doing?" Ron asked annoyingly, turning to Harry who was sitting next to him and who he assumed was his partner.

"Reading this dialogue from _Destinos_ with our partners so we can perform it for the class when Ms. Trelawney gets back," Harry said. "But I'm not your partner. Lavender is."

Ron's jaw dropped. "What! I'm partners with Lavender?" he asked incredulously. "No! You can't let this happen."

Harry shrugged and turned to Seamus, who was sitting on the other side of him.

"Ron?" Lavender said, tapping on his arm. "Ron, we have to practice."

He turned to face her and let out a weak smile before dully rehearsing the script. He looked up at her as she carefully recited her lines, her southern accent becoming even more prominent as she spoke Spanish. Lavender was undoubtedly a very pretty girl—blonde, petite, and the accent helped somewhat. But she did edge just slightly into the territory of annoying. Well, _very_ annoying.

"¿Dónde está mi hermano Raquel?" Ron said, reading slowly from his script.

Lavender giggled. She had a nice giggle. What?

"It's herman_a_, not herman_o_," she explained, smiling broadly.

"What?" Ron said, taking a word from his thoughts.

"Hermano means brother, and Raquel is obviously not his brother." She pursed her lips and then pointed to his script. "Besides, it says hermana, anyway."

"Oh," Ron said. "Right…"

**0000**

After her double Math, Hermione was done with classes for the day. She headed to the Dining Hall and poked her head inside the room where most of the girls in her dorm ate. She immediately laid eyes on Lavender and Parvati sitting with Ron, Harry, Dean, and Seamus. Her first thought was that she did _not_ want to participate in lunch with that flirtatious group. But she knew that her parents would just get annoyed and tell her that she wasn't trying to make friends. So she told herself that she'd sit with them for this one lunch and never have to do it again. She took a deep breath and joined the short cafeteria line. She grabbed a tray and some silverware and started dragging her tray along the metal bars that ran around where the food was served. As she moved along the line, picking up a hamburger and a large helping of French fries on the way, she heard the familiar clanking of someone dropping their tray next to hers. She looked up automatically and her heart skipped a beat as she lay her eyes on Adrian Pucey and his close friend who was also in their math class, Miles Bletchley.

She continued along the lunch line, not realizing that she was moving just a few paces slower. She automatically assumed that Adrian was going to say something to her. He was right behind her as she filled up two plastic cups with water. She looked at him, they made eye contact, she braced herself for an obnoxious remark, but he didn't speak. He looked back at Miles and continued their conversation.

She couldn't help but feel slightly offended as she pulled her tray out of the line and went to join the girls on her hall at their table. She mentally shook herself, however, and told herself she was being ridiculous. She really was; why would Adrian Pucey say anything to her in the lunchline? He may harass her incessantly during math class, but he was probably just satisfying his boredom by bothering an innocent freshman.

She found the table and took a seat at the end, next to Parvati.

"Hi," she said timidly.

"Hi, Hermione," Parvati and Lavender greeted.

The boys barely acknowledged her presence.

"But can you believe he said that?" Lavender said excitedly, continuing her conversation with the boys.

"God, what an idiot," Dean voiced.

"Yeah, really, who says stuff like that?" added Ron.

"And then she was being all defensive afterwards," said Parvati. "Like, defending everything he did."

"Who is this?" Hermione questioned.

"It's like, okay you're definitely in to him," said Lavender.

"Well, if she did that, I don't think she could make it anymore obvious," said Seamus.

Lavender and Parvati laughed.

"Who are you talking about?" Hermione repeated.

Parvati turned to her and rolled her eyes—not necessarily in a way to put down Hermione, more so to emphasize that the story wasn't of any importance. "No one." She waved her hand dismissively and swirled a French fry around in a pool of ketchup before popping it into her mouth. She licked her fingers before continuing. "It's not important."

Lavender then nudged Parvati in the arm. "Should we ask?" she said to Parvati in a giggly whisper.

Parvati laughed. "Yes!"

Lavender turned to face Harry who was sitting across the table. "Are you on the soccer team with Adrian Pucey?" she asked in a hushed voice, leaning forward.

"Yeah, why?" was Harry's response.

Parvati and Lavender squealed to each other. "He's _so_ hot," they said in unison.

"He's in my math class," Hermione said, edging into the group.

Parvati glanced back at her but didn't say anything.

"You guys like him?" Harry asked.

The girls sighed.

"He's _so hot_," said Lavender, leaning back and clutching her heart.

I then noticed that Adrian was sitting only a few tables away, easily within earshot of the conversation. I voiced this to the girls. They didn't seem to care. I quickly finished my meal and left the table. No one said a word to me.

**0000**

**A/N:** I started this chapter probably over a month ago and just rediscovered it and decided to finish it. Here it is. If you review I'll give you a box of Cadbury Eggs, the most delicious things on earth.


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